WE’RE SORRY. Having something stolen is awful, not to mention a violation of your property, of your personal space, and is often accompanied by anxiety about identity theft. If your items is lost, it’s a helpless feeling, fueled by adrenaline and panic while you try to retrace steps.
It happens to so many people. If you’re anxious about it, here are some tools to help:
YOUR DEVICE WAS STOLEN. NOW WHAT?
RIGHT NOW (in the next 2-4 hours):
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Send a "reward if returned" message to the device (if OS X use find my mac, if Windows try this Microsoft guide)
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Post a reward notice near the site of where it was last seen.
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Change your key passwords: email, Google, Microsoft, iCloud. No device around to do it? CALL US - this is why we’re here.
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Call the major credit bureaus and request they put a fraud watch on your credit cards, if your card information is on the lost/stolen device
POLICE REPORT
File a Police Report. VERY low likelihood you will get the device back. Most thefts are usually done by pros who immediately sell the goods. In San Francisco? Use this link
INSURANCE
File an insurance claim - did you buy it through us? We’ll furnish you with a copy of the invoice, just let us know.
RESTORE
REPLACE
Most people get another device right away. Your insurance MAY cover this, but you’ll need to contact your carrier to make this decision. Note: many manufacturers permit a return of equipment within the first 7-10 days, so if your equipment is somehow recovered, you could return the replacement unit.
COMMUNICATE
Let your colleagues and/or family know about the theft, if you want. A particularly tricky ploy is for a thief to take an email account and send “please wire money, I was burglarized” messages to friends or unsuspecting family members. So if you have people you can let know that your device was stolen and to alert you to any unusual activity or messages, this may help avoid loss.
RESUME
If you DON’T have a backup of this device and are needing your data recovered, call us and review this with a consultant. It is significantly harder (and often impossible) to get data back when it’s not regularly backed up.
If you DO have one or more backup solutions for your device, we need to start a data restore. This process can either be very fast, somewhat fast, slow, or extremely slow, depending on a number of factors. If you’re on a Windows system and using File History or another backup service, then please let us know the location of that drive and if it’s in your possession. If you’re on a Mac and using Time Machine for your computer, let us know the location of that device.
If these procedures are followed properly, you should be able to resume your normal routine soon. If you can’t do that, then we want to work with you to ensure this is the last time you’re as deeply impacted by a loss. With adequate planning, a theft or loss’s impact can be reduced from catastrophic to a mere annoyance.
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If you have high stress about this, read up on Identity Theft or ask to borrow one of our copies of “Don’t sweat the small stuff” - The really bad guys don’t care about your email or even your credit cards (unless you’re ridiculously wealthy) - most thefts are criminals looking for quick cash.
If your backup is in the cloud, then we’ll need to start a more time-intensive download to a temporary storage location (unless you have a replacement computer immediately available).
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Many data restores require REINSTALLATION of your applications, even if the apps are backed up. If we need to reinstall an app, we may need the serial number or registration information. If you bought the items from us, we’ll have this in our files. If you didn’t buy these items through Mann, please furnish them to us right away.